Trivedi presents India’s railway budget for 2012-13

New Delhi(IANS): Safety will the primary focus of Indian Railways as it enters the 12th Five Year Plan beginning April 1, Minister Dinesh Trivedi said Wednesday, while presenting his ministry’s budget for the next fiscal.

“My focus will be safe safety, safety, safety,” Trivedi told the Lok Sabha, adding this was the decision he took as soon as he assumed charge his ministry last year against the backdrop of a rail accident in Uttar Pradesh last year.

“I wow to target zero deaths,” he said in his maiden rail budget speech. “I also propose to set up an independent railway safety authority, as recommended by an expert group headed by the former Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar.”

The Indian Railways run the third largest railroad network in the world spread over some 64,000 route km, with 12,000 passenger and 7,000 freight trains each day from as many as 7,083 stations to ferry 23 million travellers and 2.65 million tonnes of goods daily.